Norman Reginald Warner, Baron Warner, (born 8 September 1940) is a British member of the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...

. A career civil servant from 1960, he was created a

life peer In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. In modern times, life peerages, always created at the rank of baron, are created under the Life Peerages ...

in 1998. He was Parliamentary Under-Secretary in the

Department of Health A health department or health ministry is a part of government which focuses on issues related to the general health of the citizenry. Subnational entities, such as states, counties and cities, often also operate a health department of their ow ...

from 2003 to 2007, and a

Minister of State Minister of State is a title borne by politicians in certain countries governed under a parliamentary system. In some countries a Minister of State is a Junior Minister of government, who is assigned to assist a specific Cabinet Minister. In o ...

at the Department of Health from 2005 to 2007. He has also been an adviser to a number of consulting companies. On 19 October 2015, Lord Warner resigned the

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

whip and became a Non-affiliated member of the House of Lords.

Early life and education

Warner was born on 8 September 1940. He was educated at

Dulwich College Dulwich College is a 2–19 independent, day and boarding school for boys in Dulwich, London, England. As a public school, it began as the College of God's Gift, founded in 1619 by Elizabethan actor Edward Alleyn, with the original purpose of ...

, an all-boys

public school Public school may refer to: * State school (known as a public school in many countries), a no-fee school, publicly funded and operated by the government * Public school (United Kingdom), certain elite fee-charging independent schools in England an ...

Dulwich Dulwich (; ) is an area in south London, England. The settlement is mostly in the London Borough of Southwark, with parts in the London Borough of Lambeth, and consists of Dulwich Village, East Dulwich, West Dulwich, and the Southwark half of ...

, London. He graduated from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

with a

Master of Public Health The Master of Public Health or Master of Philosophy in Public Health (M.P.H.), Master of Science in Public Health (MSPH), Master of Medical Science in Public Health (MMSPH) and the Doctor of Public Health (Dr.P.H.), International Masters for Healt ...

degree. From 1983 to 1984 he was the Gwilym Gibbon Fellow at

Nuffield College, Oxford Nuffield College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It is a graduate college and specialises in the social sciences, particularly economics, politics and sociology. Nuffield is one of Oxford's newer co ...

Career

Following a career in the civil service in a variety of roles from 1960, Warner was Director of

Social Services Social services are a range of public services intended to provide support and assistance towards particular groups, which commonly include the disadvantaged. They may be provided by individuals, private and independent organisations, or administe ...

for

Kent County Council Kent County Council is a county council that governs most of the county of Kent in England. It is the upper tier of elected local government, below which are 12 district councils, and around 300 town and parish councils. The county council h ...

between 1985 and 1991, and chair of the City and East London Family Services Authority 1991 to 1994. He chaired the National Inquiry into Selection, Development and Management of Staff in Children's Homes in 1992. In 2010 Lord Warner declared he was a strategic advisor to

PA Consulting Group PA Consulting Group (formerly Personnel Administration) is a professional services firm that works with public, private and third-sector organisations. It was founded in 1943 by Ernest E. Butten, Tom H. Kirkham and Dr David Seymour, who used a n ...

, for "strategic advice relating to Middle East activities only". In 2008 he told the House of Commons Public Administration Select Committee that he had "a contract with a particular part of

DLA Piper DLA Piper is a multinational law firm with offices in over 40 countries throughout the Americas, Asia Pacific, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. In 2021, it had a total revenue of US$3.47 billion, an average profit per equity partner of ...

concerned with infrastructure and public services and that requires me to give advice in those areas, including a bit of health regulation." In 2009 he said he was "a paid adviser to the

General Healthcare Group General Healthcare Group PLC (GHG) is a British healthcare company. It owns BMI Healthcare. BMI operates 54 hospitals and clinics in the United Kingdom. History The name "General Healthcare Group" dates to 1993, when AMI, a US for-profit hospi ...

" as well as "the chairman of NHS London Development Agency".

Political career

He was created a

Life Peer In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. In modern times, life peerages, always created at the rank of baron, are created under the Life Peerages ...

on 29 July 1998, taking the title Baron Warner, of Brockley in the London Borough of Lewisham. From 1997 to 1998 he was Senior Policy Adviser to

Home Secretary The secretary of state for the Home Department, otherwise known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom. The home secretary leads the Home Office, and is responsible for all national ...

Jack Straw John Whitaker Straw (born 3 August 1946) is a British politician who served in the Cabinet from 1997 to 2010 under the Labour governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. He held two of the traditional Great Offices of State, as Home Secretary ...

, and remained an adviser to Government on family policy after being appointed to the House of Lords. He was

Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (or just Parliamentary Secretary, particularly in departments not led by a Secretary of State (United Kingdom), Secretary of State) is the lowest of three tiers of Minister (government), government minist ...

in the

from 2003 to 2005, and a

at the

from 2005 to 2007.parliament.uk
Lord Warner
Retrieved 23 April 2013 He was appointed to the

Privy Council A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...

in June 2006, and was sworn in on 19 July 2006. In August 2010, Lord Warner was appointed by the

Coalition Government A coalition government is a form of government in which political parties cooperate to form a government. The usual reason for such an arrangement is that no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an election, an atypical outcome in ...

as a commissioner on the Commission on Funding of Care and Support, which was chaired by

Andrew Dilnot Sir Andrew William Dilnot, (born 19 June 1960) is a Welsh economist and broadcaster. He was formerly the Director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies from 1991 to 2002, and was Principal of St Hugh's College, Oxford between 2002 and 2012. As o ...

. The commission was asked by the government to review the way in which social care is paid for in England. It recommended that people's lifetime costs should be capped, with the government paying any further costs above the level of the cap. In June 2014, he was appointed as a Commissioner to oversee improvements in

Birmingham City Council Birmingham City Council is the local government body responsible for the governance of the City of Birmingham in England, which has been a metropolitan district since 1974. It is the most populated local council area in the United Kingdom (e ...

's Children's Social Care services, following a poor review by Professor

Julian Le Grand Sir Julian Ernest Michael Le Grand, FBA (born 29 May 1945) is a British academic specialising in public policy. He is the Richard Titmuss Professor of Social Policy at the London School of Economics (LSE) and was a senior policy advisor to former ...

. In October 2015, Warner resigned the Labour whip in the House of Lords and became a Non-affiliated member. In a letter to the Labour leader,

Jeremy Corbyn Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (; born 26 May 1949) is a British politician who served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party from 2015 to 2020. On the political left of the Labour Party, Corbyn describes himself as a socialist ...

, he wrote that Labour was no longer "a credible party of government-in-waiting... Labour will only win another election with a policy approach that wins back people who have moved to voting Conservative and Ukip, as well as to Greens and SNP. Your approach is unlikely to achieve this shift."

NHS controversy

In April 2013, Lord Warner announced he would vote with the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats in a key vote in the House of Lords on proposed NHS regulations that Labour claimed would enable companies to bid for almost all health services. He was the only Labour peer to do so. In March 2014, Warner wrote an article for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' newspaper suggesting that NHS users should pay £10 a month and £20 for every night in hospital. Labour swiftly rejected these ideas. Shadow Health Minister, Jamie Reed, commented: "This is not something Labour would ever consider. We believe in an NHS free at the point of use, and a Labour government will repeal David Cameron's NHS changes that put private profit before patient care." Lord Warner is a director of Sage Advice Ltd, and an adviser to

Xansa Xansa plc, trading as Xansa, was a British outsourcing and technology company, and was quoted on the London Stock Exchange until 17 October 2007 when the purchase of Xansa by Steria was completed and the company was delisted. Its headquarter ...

(a technology firm) and Byotrol (an antimicrobial company) – all of which sell or are hoping to sell services or products to the NHS, according to website ''Social Investigations''. He also took up a position with

Apax Partners Apax Partners LLP is a British private equity firm, headquartered in London, England. The company also operates out of six other offices in New York, Hong Kong, Mumbai, Tel Aviv, Munich and Shanghai. As of December 2017, the firm, including its ...

– one of the leading private equity investors in healthcare, according to the Alliance for Lobbying Transparency.

Other interests

He has also held the Chair of the

Youth Justice Board The Youth Justice Board ( cy, Bwrdd Cyfiawnder Ieuenctid), for England and Wales (YJB) is a non-departmental public body created by the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 to oversee the youth justice system for England and Wales. It is sponsored by the ...

National Council for Voluntary Organisations The National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) is the umbrella body for the voluntary and community sector in England. It is a registered charity (no 225922). NCVO works to support the voluntary and community sector and to create an ...

and the London Region Sports Board. In 2010, Warner was elected chair of the

All-Party Parliamentary Humanist Group All-Party Groups (APGs) within United Kingdom politics are informal, cross-party, interest groups of the UK Parliament. APGs have at least 20 members who are all Members of the House of Commons and House of Lords. The All-Party Parliamentary H ...

, becoming Vice Chair in 2015. He is a member of the Advisory Council of

Reform Reform ( lat, reformo) means the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc. The use of the word in this way emerges in the late 18th century and is believed to originate from Christopher Wyvill#The Yorkshire Associati ...

. He is an Honorary Associate of the

National Secular Society The National Secular Society (NSS) is a British campaigning organisation that promotes secularism and the separation of church and state. It holds that no one should gain advantage or disadvantage because of their religion or lack of it. It was ...

National Secular Society. Retrieved 27 July 2019

References

External links

Norman Warner: will a new Beveridge emerge?
1 March 2012. Essay from ''The next ten years'' published by

.
Why I, a Labour peer, am supporting a regulated market for NHS competition
Norman Warner, ''

'', 23 April 2013. {{DEFAULTSORT:Warner, Norman Warner, Baron 1940 births Labour Party (UK) life peers Living people Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Crossbench life peers British civil servants People educated at Dulwich College Alumni of Nuffield College, Oxford UC Berkeley School of Public Health alumni Life peers created by Elizabeth II